I thought it would be nice to have a single post here where the carvers (or creators of any kind)of tiki could post sequence shots, tips, and knowledge on doing what they do. I will post some of my carving sequence shots here shortly to break the ice....Mahalo!

(from an old Carving Post sequence): A Maori piece.....I wanted him to be large so it came down to large figural with more inlay or smaller panelized figure with less inlay (pressed for time and wanted to demo this piece at Hukilau); I opted for the first. In the first photo you see the blank (which burned out a 1/2 hp radial jigsaw...I mean literally on fire). In the second you see my Abalone inlay pieces. The eyes I did by reversing a black fossil shell, cutting out of it two black pupils, and then inlaying them into abalone circles. I use a rotozip with a tile bit for this and a respirator (Bob Van Oosting told me the abalone dust can be very dangerous, like asbestos). The third is the view from my beat up old chair! Note the white glove on the floor...My dear sweet wife just bought that for me...Steel filament wrapped in polyester fiber. Guess she's had enough of my carving related E.R. visits! The last two are of the progress so far. Maori "scaling" relief effects...here's my method, for what it's worth. First I complete the plunge, or guide cuts. You must use a very thin flat bladed chisel (in this case a small one). Mark your depth on the blade with a magic marker so you'll have consistency. In this case all the plunges are 90 degrees. Tap carefully to avoid a grain split. Next, begin angling the scales in. Be mindful of the direction you want them to flow in. The best way to avoid damage is to proceed in layers, working just a little wood off each scale at a time, until you have a nice, clean slope which stops just above the guide cut depth (for a clean cut). Viola...a complete scale. Here is Hei Tiki as he appears today...getting his Moko right now. Upper body complete, palm parting tool work and all. The palm chisel work is something that you just have to do to learn...it can't really be explained, but requires good control of a parting tool; no slipping! All that is left is the legs and the inlay work! I stuck the eyes on with some floral clay for the photo. It will have abalone inlaid eyes, teeth, and knuckles. Here is the finished Maori meeting house image. I thought it turned out nice...what do you all think? It looks like a very old piece which was my goal. Each time I tackle a Maori piece I become more and more in awe of the craftsmanship in their carvings and the power of their imagery...it blows me away. I only hope I do them any justice at all. I'm going to put a pic on a regular thread so someone besides us carving nerds can see.

Gecko carves a Tongaroa (Also from old Carving Post) here is Tangaroa of the Cook islands. God of fertility, ocean and fisherman. He is 3 ft. tall. still in da making, still gotta put on a finish, rope around his arms, etc.

it'll look mo'betta wen it's done. Just gotta clean tangaroa up and he will be ready 'fo his finnish.

shoots AUWIE!

anyways, here is the one week old Tangaroa finished. I wanted him to look vintage like he jus wen come from da old Trader vics tree house in Waikiki.

Cookolossu's carving sequence: Here's the opening chisel volley on a huge 7 1/2 foot, 22-inch Marquesan...Kahuna in work duds! Can't decide to go full body single (easier) or a double godhead pole. White pine...carves like fresh drawn butter...very oily and full of resin, which should mean a clean go of it as this wood continues to dry. It will get about 4 coats of tung as well. We got face.... We got choppers..... Cutting in the chest and arms. Getting the chest contours right is pretty hard on a Marquesan this size...the geometric features should sort of "flow" into the more organic ones. I use a single cardboard template for each feature so it will be the same on both sides. The red marks on the straight chisel shown are for different plunge depths. This is a chisel I use all the time that I have ground down the first 1 1/2 inches of the tip on a bench grinder to about 1/16th of an inch thin, tapered like a duckbill, which allows me to cut guide grooves quite deep without cracking the wood. It makes the work go faster because you usually don't have to plunge grooves twice. The ear protectors keep my rather Roger-Miller-like rock band induced tinnitus from getting worse from all that hammering. One may also note that I changed the design a bit to better porportion the arms. Well, folks...here is the basic tiki, minus base decorations and general neatening and cleaning up. It's one hell of a big Marquesan, my first 7-foot pole. Certified pure, 100% chainsaw free. If I don't win, Cookollosu The Great jumps in! (I had to borrow Geck's Aka to have something to fight with!)

Great thread, I need it. This week I am going to debark and start in on my first Palm carving. Got a nice debarking tool (forget the proper name). Sharpened the hell out of it and then thought about the way to use. I mean I know as well as most just how dangerous carving can be but this seems deadly. Can you give proper tips on using this tool? I fear that razor sharp tool will slice me in half at the calves. Giving serious consideration to wearing my old Downhill Mountain bike shin pads.

Draw knives are generally a pretty safe bet (Check out lake's form in the above mailbox post). I just do one end at a time and use my body weight and momentum to do most of the work. Skinning logs is a bitch...one tedious motherf*cker. Worst part of tiki carving.

Does anyone have any thoughts on using pressure treated telephone poles for carving?

I'm chippin my way through my fist tiki out of 4' chunk of pole. It's white cedar, I think. In the beginning I thought I was feeling a little sick from being close to Kahuna knows what heavy metals but I might have just been sick from being sick.

Here are my tools of the trade,well... besides my noodle and two hands.
I use a box to keep the chisels from banging into each other, an alternative is a tool roll. I sewed one up out of some leather, but usually don't use it.
Robert Sorby chisels . They are about 12" long and nicely crafted. The big sucker is my most used chisel. This guy is flat so you have to mind the corners while carving. Makes things go faster, but you have to be careful. The mallet is a carvers mallet . I reason that it's round shape saves alot of time and pain, because it always hits the chisel properly( no regular hammer head)

These are some Henry Taylors that I use for the details. Notice where the metal blade meets the handle, it flares out like a cone. This is a sign if a good chisel.

It's best to put a sheet of plywood down or an anti-fatigue mat under your carving area. If you drop a chisel on concrete , it will mess up the edge and seriously piss you off. It's hard to do when you first start, but you have to carve loose and relaxed, don't tense up.

That is good advice....I have dropped two of my Henry Taylors and had to re-edge, and a re-edge is never quite the same as the original. A damaged edge will leave ridges and scratches in your cuts that are tedious to reverse.